This bicycle race photo was taken at the Oklahoma Senior Olympics 2003 in Tulsa at Mohawk Park.

Bicycling.slimmer-fitness.com

FEATURE ARTICLE

Beyond The Banana Seat - Biking for Fitness
May, 2001 by Vonetta Booker


Biking is a great, grown-up fitness routine

Remember the feeling of the wind on your face as you pedaled through the streets on skinny brown legs? Although your banana-seated baby is probably long gone, cycling is still a thrill--and a wonderful, boredom-resistant way to shape up your heart, hips and legs. It's a calorie buster too: According to the American Heart Association, a 150-pound person can burn up to 240 calories an hour while cycling at just 6 miles per hour.

"You have several things going on when you ride," says spinning and aerobics instructor Tanya Brooks of World Gym in Largo, Maryland. "You have the aerobics workout, which burns calories and gets your heart going. And if you want to lose weight, it's a great activity, because everyone can ride."

Get in shape for biking with heart-friendly exercises such as low-impact aerobics, step classes and elliptical machines. You need strong legs, but upper-body strength is also essential: Try lifting light handheld weights and doing abdominal crunches. Spinning classes (indoor group cycling) at your gym can also help you get into top cycling shape.

Maryland resident Naomi Lewis took biking to the next level--for a good cause--when she rode in the Washington, D.C., AIDS Ride presented by Tanqueray last year--a four-day, 330-mile trip. Lewis says a ride like that requires a fitness level she had to work up to gradually. She prepared by lifting light weights and doing stationary cycling at the gym, and by riding 50 to 100 miles on the weekends.

Whether you occasionally pedal through neighborhood streets or put some serious miles on your bike, the point is to flip that kickstand up and take off!

It's All In The Legs

Squats:
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and toes facing forward. Bend your knees and squat down, pushing your bottom away from you, keeping heels pressed to the floor. (To maintain correct form, pretend you're sitting down in a chair.) Straighten your knees again and stand upright to return to the starting position. Do 2 or 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions each.

Alternating Lunges:
To begin, take a big step forward with one leg, while keeping your feet parallel. Bend both knees as you lower your body toward the floor, keeping your back knee just above the ground each time you go down. Straighten your legs and return to the start, then repeat with the other leg. Do 2 or 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions each.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Essence Communications, Inc.
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